Fearless & Free

A few friends recently asked about my menu plans with our budget. We recently bumped our weekly grocery budget from $130/week to $150/week + $200/month for meat. That includes paper and health & beauty products. Charlie and I have recently started a low sugar & grain diet since both of us have some serious family health issues. I also have several allergies/sensitivities that factor into what we buy. For those who are interested in how I do it, here ya go. 1. Double ad day. A grocery store in our city has double ad day where the last week's ad as well as the current ad's deal are in effect. Double the amount of things on sale is a win. 2. Aldi.  I love Aldi. They recently updated the ones near us so the are nicely light and clean. I find their produce a hit and miss type of place, but if you go on the day they restock it isn't too bad. 3. Coupons, rewards programs and markdowns. Bakers and Walgreens both have apps that you can download coupons to your rewards ...

Hello. Welcome to this cozy little corner on the internet. My name is Melissa and I live in the currently very chilly state of Nebraska. I have been married to my husband, Charlie, for 11+ years and we have 4 kids ranging from 3 to 10 years. I homeschool the oldest 3 with the help of a university style school. We have been attending our amazing church for almost 8 years and are very involved with our small group. Jesus has been a part of my life since childhood, but my Dear Friend for about 12 years. Some years ago I had another blog. It was personal and was really for keeping our extended family informed after we got married, moved across the country and started having babies. It was a nice little blog. But not very deep. And that was ok. But as life got more difficult and problems showed deeper, I didn't feel like that was a place to share the struggles. Thankfully God placed some incredible people in our lives while we lived on the East Coast. Even though it has bee...